ATLANTA, GA – The harrowing ordeal of a 2-year-old boy has emerged at the center of a courtroom drama as the trial of a Georgia man accused in a double homicide began this week. The toddler, Jacob Hicks, was found alone and covered in blood after the shooting deaths of his parents in their Atlanta-area home, left without care for nearly 12 hours before authorities arrived.
Prosecutors say Matthew Scott Lanz, 26, broke into the Hicks’ suburban home on the night of Nov. 19, 2021, shooting and killing Justin and Amber Hicks as their young son watched. According to evidence presented in court, the couple were relaxing in their living room when their assailant forced his way in, firing at close range.
Investigators later discovered Jacob wandering near the bodies of his parents, his clothes stained with blood. Toys were scattered around the scene as authorities pieced together the grim aftermath. Detectives believe the child tried to comfort his parents, whose lives had abruptly ended before him. The child was unharmed physically, but the chilling details have underscored the trauma he endured.
The Hicks family had recently celebrated moving into their “dream home” in a quiet Atlanta neighborhood just two months earlier. Their new house shared a backyard with the Lanz family, drawing attention to longstanding tensions in the area.
Leading up to the attack, the home where the Hicks lived had been the focus of neighborhood disputes. The previous owner reported being harassed by Lanz and his older brother in the months before selling the property. Prosecutors highlighted these past incidents as they tried to establish a pattern of behavior.
Justin Hicks, a firefighter with six years of service in Cherokee County, and Amber Hicks were well-known in their community. Their deaths, now the subject of intense legal scrutiny, have sent shockwaves through their neighborhood and beyond.
Lanz faces a series of felony charges, including malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault and cruelty to children. Georgia law distinguishes murder crimes by intent rather than degree, with malice murder requiring evidence of premeditation.
The morning after the killings, officers responded to a break-in call nearby, leading to a violent confrontation. Authorities said Lanz was found inside a home and stabbed a responding officer multiple times before being shot by police. Both Lanz and the officer survived and were taken to the hospital.
Further complicating the case, the Lanz family’s history of violence has surfaced. Matthew Lanz’s older brother, Austin, was previously charged with breaking into the same house when a different owner lived there. Austin Lanz later attacked and killed a Pentagon police officer before fatally shooting himself in a highly publicized incident.
The trial is expected to delve further into Jacob Hicks’ traumatic experience in the wake of the tragedy, as well as the history of escalating tensions in the neighborhood. While Lanz has entered a plea of not guilty, prosecutors say the evidence will demonstrate a calculated and devastating act that left a young child suddenly orphaned.
As proceedings continue, the court is set to hear more from investigators, neighbors, and experts about the sequence of events that left the Hicks’ only child at the center of a tragedy that’s impacted an entire community.